In the Shallows
by SamCyberCat
Summary: If you can find a lighthouse then you can find Ryo. Ryo/Fubuki.


Notes – For the gx_100. Set post-GX.

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There was a lighthouse in the city too.

None of them particularly knew how long it had been there, as it wasn't something anyone would have looked out for before attending Duel Academia, but it was there now. And when Ryo disappeared for a considerable length of time without telling anyone where he was going then it'd be a safe bet to anyone who knew him that the lighthouse would be where he was.

That was just Ryo's way - sometimes he wanted to make himself impossible to contact. He'd just turn his mobile phone off and that would be that. After a few hours he'd come back and bury himself in work as always. Arranging Shou's career certainly gave him something to keep his mind busy.

Some people, on the other hand, didn't take a hint. Fubuki was the sort of person who, if you left a note on your door saying 'sleeping, do not disturb', would climb up your drainpipes into your room just to make sure you hadn't been burgled and the note on the door wasn't cunningly left there by the burglars to fool him. So when Ryo turned off his phone and went to that lighthouse at the pier it didn't stop Fubuki from following him.

He walked down the length of the pier, watching the back of Ryo's wheelchair come more into focus as he got closer.

"It's getting dark now," he commented offhandedly, leaning against the rail at the end of the pier, which was presumably put there to stop tourists wandering over the edge. Oddly enough there hadn't been one of those at Duel Academia.

"That's hardly important is it?" replied Ryo, without taking his eyes from the ocean ahead.

That was a good point; any muggers who'd try to take advantage of Ryo for being in a wheelchair would find themselves sorely regretting the choice.

"Just checking to make sure you hadn't fallen asleep here," Fubuki joked, he then stood on the bottom line of the rail to get a better look at the ocean below.

His friend didn't comment telling him to be careful, if Fubuki fell in he would simply swim to the nearest ladder and tell him about how fun the experience had been when he'd climbed back up to the top.

After a few moments of silence, Fubuki said, "I wonder how deep it really is down there…"

"I've seen swimmers around occasionally," answered Ryo, "And obviously it must be at least deep enough for boats to dock, but I doubt it's much more than that."

"Do you think there are any mermen down there…" Fubuki continued to muse, to which Ryo made a dismissive noise.

They remained there for a while longer, Fubuki's hair draped down past his face in a way that almost looked attractive to Ryo as he looked below. For all Fubuki was one of the most talkative people he'd ever bet the boy seemed quite content with the silences that a friendship with Ryo created.

"Look! Look at that!" Fubuki called suddenly, pointing frantically at the water.

Easing himself out of the wheelchair, the rail being a handy support to grab onto, Ryo peered over the edge, half expecting to see a plastic bag with a clump of seaweed attached that Fubuki would then claim to be a mermaid… merman. Whichever.

Instead a shoal of small silver fish, which were darting through the shallows in one direction only to then quickly turn and move off in another as if they were moving in union, greeted him.

"They're amazing, how often do they come and do that?" Fubuki whispered in fascination.

"I've never seen them before…" confessed Ryo, who spent most of his time here staring out to sea, not looking at what was so close to his own feet.

Within a few minutes the shoal scattered and fled off further away from them, so they couldn't see the fish anymore.

After they did Ryo eased himself back into the wheelchair, and through subconscious habit Fubuki moved behind it to start pushing the chair for him.

"It can't be that deep then, if we could see the fish," Fubuki mumbled in answer to his own question.

There was a pause for thought.

Then Ryo answered, "I'm sure it's only as deep as our friendship."

"Oh, very funny."

The wheelchair went over a bump that was strong enough to jolt Ryo, not enough to hurt him but enough to remind him that he wasn't smugly in charge of their relationship.

He liked that reminder.


End file.
